Blinken fails to convince Arab states to join US-led op. in Red Sea

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News Agency
12 Jan 2024 16:48
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All the Middle Eastern countries have refused to join the US-led maritime coalition against Yemen, except for Bahrain.

Blinken waves as he boards his plane to return to Washington following his Middle East Tour in Egypt, on Jan. 11, 2024. (AP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has failed, during his tour of the Middle East, to convince Arab states to join the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian against Yemen’s Armed Forces in the Red Sea, Sputnik reported, cited news website Semafor.

During his tour of the Middle East, Blinken failed to convince regional powers, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Egypt to join the maritime coalition against Yemen. Concerning Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the two Gulf states are not interested in providing significant support for the military operation. Meanwhile, states like Qatar and Egypt are steering away from any US-led operation, the news website reported.

Bahrain was the only regional state to join the US-led coalition in the Red Sea, knowing that it hosts the US Fifth Fleet.

Back in December, the United States launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, an international coalition allegedly aimed at protecting commercial ships in the Red Sea while, in fact, it only aims to deter Yemeni Armed Forces operations in the region to maintain "Israel's" safety.

Aggression on Yemen

Overnight into Friday, the US and UK carried out an aggression on Yemen targeting four provinces in different parts of Yemen, including the capital of Sanaa and the cities of Hodeidah, Taiz, and Saada. Later in the day, the US Air Forces Central said that US strikes against Ansar Allah in Yemen had hit more than 60 targets in 16 different locations.

In response, Mohammad al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Ansar Allah political bureau, said the United States and Britain "made a mistake in waging war on Yemen and did not benefit from their previous experiences."

Al-Bukhaiti said that "the US and Britain undoubtedly regret today their previous foolishness" (referring to the two countries' involvement in the aggression against Yemen in 2004 and 2015), emphasizing that they "will soon realize that the direct aggression on Yemen was the biggest folly in their history."